5. Game of Thrones

By James PoniewozikWednesday, Dec. 07, 2011

Nick Briggs / HBO

George R. R. Martin's grownup fantasy novels were not supposed to be filmable. They have a vast sprawl of locations and a Domesday Book's worth of characters, and their sheer length made The Lord of the Rings look like a pamphlet. Well, dragons should be too big to fly, and yet somehow they manage. This lavishly constructed season pared the first novel to its sinewy medieval essence, a thrilling political drama with epic sweep and classic HBO moral complexity. It was equally fearless in slashing its characters  spoiler alert!  killing off what seemed to be its protagonist, Ned Stark (Sean Bean) and proving that we should never feel safe with it. Most important, it took a vast panorama of art-directed exotica  mountain fortresses, nomadic encampments, lavish whorehouses and a 700-ft. ice wall  and made it all feel dead real with grounded performances from Peter Dinklage, Emilia Clarke, Kit Harington and a stunningly good collection of child actors. Set amid the battle for a declining kingdom in a world whose magicians were long dead, Game of Thrones was nonetheless magic through and through. (HBO)